Happy 2nd anniversary to the HomeGain Real Estate Blog!

Over the past two years, the HomeGain Blog has won awards and been recognized by organizations including WebAwards (Web Marketing Association), FrogPond, Inman News, and World Wide Web Awards, as well as hundreds of supporting real estate bloggers, Realtors, real estate organizations and publications, and members of the press.

We’d like to thank everyone for their continued support, interaction and loyalty.

HomeGain.com and the HomeGain Real Estate Blog both have won the Standard of Excellence Award for website development in the Real Estate category in 2009.

HomeGain.com and the HomeGain Blog received scores that were above average in the overall Industry and against other WebAward.org, aka Web Marketing Association, entries. Points were awarded using the following criteria: Design, Innovation, Content, Technology, Interactivity, Copywriting, Ease of use.

WebAward Judges comments included:

“The HomeGain.com site design is open, clean and inviting. The method for division of site services is excellent. This makes it quite easy for the site visitor to select their path.”

“The best selling point for the HomeGain.com site is the wealth of content. Content aggregation is used well throughout the site. “

“Nice blog which follows many best practice elements, good use of photography, compelling elements for the blog visitor to interact with.”

“HomeGain Blog is focused on Real Estate and has attention grabbing posts — content is king!”

Continue reading this post

Of all the ingredients in the blogging success formula, the one that can’t be taught is Personality.

So, instead, I offer these 4 tips to help inspire you to be yourself.

1. Play to Your Strengths

Real estate is a complex business.  It involves both the left and right sides of the brain, if you will.  Yes, there are facts and figures, credit scores and financing options but there is also lifestyle, neighborhood amenities, client feelings, and a host of other intangibles.  I have heard finding a home compared to finding a mate.  Yes, there are the physical characteristics but also those hard to define “feely” qualities.  The real estate agent is the matchmaker, trying to blend all the elements together.  But each of you is better at certain aspects.

Are you more comfortable and confident analyzing statistics and financing to find the best deal in town?  Or do your strengths lean more toward quality of life and neighborhood amenities to find the perfect match for a first time buyer?  Do you enjoy marketing, staging?  Write about the topics that show your strengths… and your passion.  Find your talent and you will find your voice.

2. Reveal Yourself

If you have hobbies or interests (even pets), share them with your readers from time to time.  Perhaps you volunteer for an organization, at your church or synagogue, or are involved in community events.  Write about your experiences.  If you can (and maybe you can’t) relate them to real estate.  The point is to open up to your readers so they get a sense of the “unprofessional” you – Gee that doesn’t sound right, but you know what I mean.  You will be surprised to find that others share your hobbies, interests, volunteerism….and pets. 

Continue reading this post

After writing a post on a topic, simply add a section called “Related Posts” or something similar to direct your readers to other posts on the topic. Then list the titles of all the related posts with links to those posts. This will encourage readers to click these older posts and learn more about the topic and your expertise.

BLOG TIP: While it is a common practice to add the links to related posts at the end of a post, there is nothing preventing you from doing so within the body of the post. For example, if you mention home staging in a post on preparing a home for sale, you can say “See this post on how to stage a home” and link to that older post.

BLOG TIP: Review your older posts and edit them to add links to more recent posts. This way both old and new posts are tied together. If a reader’s search brings them to either post, they can see the link to the other and click it. Visually tying your posts together also helps the reader stay on your blog.

Blogging Tip snippet courtesy of the HomeGain Blog Professor, Joseph Ferrara. To read the full article and receive the weekly real estate blogging newsletters, sign up for AgentView and the HomeGain Blogging School.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the HomeGain Real Estate Blog iPhone application.

The platform enables readers with iPhones to access and view HomeGain Blog articles in a customized format.

The HomeGain Blog automatically recognizes that it is being accessed by an iPhone, and delivers the iPhone interface.

No software downloads are required.

If you have an iPhone, please take a look.